My family and I were part of the last Sundaise festival

My family and I were part of the last Sundaise festival. I arrived early and put up some of my art including printed banners of my paintings and the flowers made by myself, Anne, Brenton, Megan. I was also going to DJ as The Dastardly Bounder on Saturday night.

Anne and my girls arrived Friday morning. We made a choice to be involved. We love these kind of events, they’re inclusive, creative and (exceptional circumstances notwithstanding) safe. We knew there was bad weather coming, but having successfully navigated Splore we weren't overly concerned.

The kids loved being there. They took off and explored, coming back to the tent when they got hungry. We all walked around the site together, eating yummy food, experiencing the opening ceremony and enjoying the music. And then the weather got worse. It pelted down. It came in sheets. The kids thought was awesome and got thoroughly soaked.

We went back to the tent got everyone into dry clothes and settled in for the night. And then the weather got worse. It was so loud in the tent, like rain on a tin roof but less metallic… funny that.

I went back to the site to catch Laughton Kora, then AlleyKat and the Ace Tones. And then the weather got worse. My gumboots were soaked, one had a hole in it and the other seemed to get wet by osmosis. At that point it seemed like there had been too much rain over the last couple of hours to not have a negative impact on the site.

I took off back to the tent and on the way saw woman walking through the parking field. She fell into the puddle and the water came up to her armpits. She laughed and I helped haul her out. I got back to the tent and stripped off, put on some warm clothes and climbed into my sleeping bag. The rain didn't let up.

Within half an hour a woman came through the campsite, she was distraught, telling everyone that the river had breached its banks and to find high ground immediately. We dressed into our jackets and gumboots, grabbed spare clothes, torches, water, tarpaulins and some rope. We climbed out of the tent and stood in the darkness trying to decide exactly what to do. Within a couple of seconds we saw Tim, Tracey and Bing who also had their own survival kits. We all headed up the hill to the highest ground we could find.

In a break in the weather I strung a couple of large tarps off a tree and settled in just as the next weather front exploded onto us. We told stories and jokes, ate lollies and watched the lights play across the site, voices drifting up the hill - mostly people laughing. The kids snuggled into Anne and I, more frightened than they let on. And we waited. Three and a half hours later the river had subsided enough that we felt safe to return to the tent, which was dry, the river hadn't come up as high as our camp.

It was frightening and exciting at the same time. Really we were lucky to have chosen a good campsite and to be surrounded by friends who were practical and unfazed by the chaos. We got off lightly, all things considered. Some of the stories told on Saturday were hair raising and it’s really amazing no one was seriously hurt.